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Why One Inmate Fought To Die—And What Gianna Toboni Found
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Gianna Toboni has stood face-to-face with ISIS fighters in Iraq, walked into prisons teeming with drug cartel hitmen, and followed a trail of corruption through global war zones. But her most harrowing investigation unfolded not on foreign soil but in a U.S. prison cell. In The Volunteer: The Failure of the Death Penalty in America and One Inmate's Quest to Die with Dignity [Atria Books]
The Nevada Department of Corrections photo shows the execution chamber at Ely State Prison in Ely, ... More Nevada where Scott Dozier was on death row. (Nevada Department of Corrections via AP, File)
Toboni, already celebrated for her fearless reporting on sex trafficking in the Philippines, government surveillance in Russia, and Guantanamo Bay's censorship, describes The Volunteer as her most intense project yet. 'Dozier was unexpected in almost every way,' she shared in writing. 'He wasn't pleading his innocence. He wasn't particularly sympathetic. And he was volunteering for execution.'
This defiance of the expected is what drew Toboni to the story. Initially reaching out to Dozier in 2017 for a VICE on HBO documentary, she never intended to become one of his closest confidantes. But as Nevada's attempts to execute him stalled, first over drug procurement and later over legal entanglements, the story began to spiral into something much deeper: an exposé on the American state's inability to carry out the very punishment it legislates.
'There was a lot of excitement around the story from the very beginning,' says Nicole Bozorgmir, a longtime producer and director who worked closely with Toboni at VICE News. 'It wasn't the quintessential death row story and it really called the bluff of the system.'
'Gianna would dig in on the 'big' story,' adds Subrata De, former Executive Vice President of VICE News, 'whether it was the SCOTUS decision that reversed Roe v. Wade or, in this case, the continued use of the death penalty in some U.S. states." De continues by pointing out these are the kinds of stories that define the political culture of the country, but often prove daunting. 'Her big takes, these deep dives into big issues,' De says, "helped inform not only the audience, but also the newsroom.'
Only about 15% of those sentenced to death in America are ever executed. 'Even though Dozier and the state of Nevada shared the same goal — execution — the state couldn't find a way to pull it off,' Toboni says. 'That, to me, was an underreported and powerful representation of how broken this system is.'
The book alternates between Dozier's tumultuous life — his Vegas meth empire, his time as a stuntman, and his time as an Army Ranger — and the greater dysfunctions of America's death penalty. In one of the most gut-wrenching turns, Toboni recounts how, after his execution was stayed, Dozier was placed on suicide watch and isolated for months. 'He wasn't allowed books, a radio, or even a pencil,' she says. 'The lights were left on 24/7. He was going insane.'
'Gianna handled a really difficult, often controversial subject with amazing nuance and depth,' former VICE producer Bozorgmir adds. 'She leaned into a story that many other reporters might have shied away from — and that's reflective of who she is as a journalist.'
NEW YORK, NY - FEBRUARY 21: VICE correspondent Gianna Toboni discusses "VICE on HBO" with the Build ... More Series at Build Studio on February 21, 2017 in New York City. (Photo by Roy Rochlin/FilmMagic)
Toboni details the bizarre lengths states go to in order to carry out executions. With major pharmaceutical companies refusing to sell lethal injection drugs to prisons, states have turned to black-market tactics. 'There are parking lot drug deals between prison officials,' Toboni says. 'In some cases, the DEA has confiscated illegal imports from India. These scenes read like [television series]
Breaking Bad, but the dealers are our own government employees.'
Toboni believes the U.S. refusal to abandon capital punishment stems from more than policy inertia — it reflects a national obsession. 'There's a deep addiction to crime and punishment in this country,' she says.
One of the most profound tensions in The Volunteer is Toboni's own struggle to humanize Dozier, a man convicted of murder and dismemberment. 'Dozier once asked me, 'Do you think you can kill someone and still be a good person?'' she recalls.
'Gianna is incredibly focused on the human at the center of any story,' says Subrata De. 'Whether it's international or domestic, her focus is the person and the people. From that, the storytelling flows.'
Toboni's years covering global crises — from ISIS strongholds to cartel-run prisons — shaped her ability to empathize even with those society deems irredeemable. 'They, too, are people,' she says. 'And they, too, are entitled to dignity.'
'Gianna creates an environment where people feel not just comfortable, but drawn to open up,' Bozorgmir adds. 'There's an authenticity about her — what you see is what you get.'
Can the system be reformed? 'Until it becomes politically damaging to be pro-death penalty, it will persist,' Toboni says.
From a newsroom leadership perspective, De emphasizes Toboni's integrity: 'We never embarked on a story without a full risk assessment for the team, and a full discussion on the risk the reporting could possibly pose to the story subjects as well.'
In the end, Toboni doesn't ask readers to feel sorry for Scott Dozier. She asks them to pay attention — to the bureaucracy, the brutality, and the moral contradictions that define capital punishment in America.
With The Volunteer, Gianna Toboni doesn't just deliver an exposé. She delivers a reckoning.
